In an effort to provide a forum for immunologists (faculty and trainees) from the Upstate New York area and surrounding regions, to present and discuss their research, and build collaborations, the Upstate New York Immunology Conference was initiated in 1998. The 1998 meeting included 53 participants from three (3) institutions. This meeting has since continued on an annual basis and has now grown to include ten (10) institutions with attendance reaching 134 in 2007. The specific objectives are: 1) to provide a forum for members of the regional Upstate New York immunology community and neighboring institutions to present their work, exchange ideas, and develop collaborations; 2) to give students and postdoctoral fellows an opportunity to meet other trainees as well as faculty from area institutions; 3) to give students and postdoctoral fellows an opportunity to present their work in a meeting format, and obtain appropriate feedback on their projects; and 4) to increase local, national, and international awareness of immunology research being conducted in the Upstate New York region. The next meeting will be held October 25-28, 2009, on the shores of Lake George at The Sagamore Resort, Bolton Landing, NY. It is anticipated that for the 2009 meeting, there will be approximately 115 participants from Albany Medical College, the New York Public Health Laboratories Wadsworth Center for Research, the Trudeau Institute, SUNY Upstate Medical University, the University of Rochester, Cornell University, Roswell Park Cancer Center, the University of New York at Buffalo, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Vermont, and Dartmouth Medical School. In addition, there will be two (2) keynote speakers. This year's keynote speakers are Drs. Jay Kolls (University of Pittsburgh) and Jonathan Yewdell (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH). All those wishing to attend will be accommodated within the Sagamore Resort's 340 rooms and extensive conference facilities. The focus of the meeting varies from year to year depending upon the individual participants and normally includes a range of topics. This year's topics will be: 1) Immune Regulation, 2) The Immune Response to Infection, and 3) Mechanisms of Immune Modulation/Intervention.